And Why High Schoolers Don't
In order to begin to solve the problem, it is imperative to discover the real causes of the lack of motivation in high school students.
“Amotivation” is defined as a “state in which individuals cannot perceive a relationship between their behavior and that behavior’s subsequent outcome,” and has been associated with learned helplessness, boredom, poor concentration, poor psychological adjustment, higher perceived stress at school, high school dropout (Dr. Ford). This disconnect between effort, or behavior, and success, the behavior’s outcome, is a primary cause for the lack of motivation in high schoolers. According to Carol Dweck, this is a result of a “fixed mindset.” A fixed mindset is the belief that one’s abilities, intelligence, and talents are fixed traits (Dweck). If a student doesn’t think that they have a chance at succeeding because they aren’t “good at” something, they won’t try it out of a fear that they will fail and then their peers with no longer think of them as “smart” (Dweck). This phenomenon is also referred to as low self esteem (Staff).
Another cause of amotivation is the lack of support by parents and/or teachers. From an early age, the home environment shapes the initial attitude of learning: if curiosity, questions, and exploration are encouraged, students often believe that learning is good and fun (Staff). If the teachers in a classroom don’t show care about each individual student as a person (Kiefer) or believe in them as a learner, the student will often mirror those attitudes (Staff). Teachers or parents that have know-it-all attitudes in turn set the student up for a lack of confidence and failure.
Pressure is another contributor to the motivation deficit in high schools, whether it be from parents, teachers, or peers to get good grades, look “smart,” not mess up, or be the best in the class. This type of motivator is classified as extrinsic: the “desire to perform and succeed for the sake of accomplishing a specific result or outcome” (Dr. Ford). This attitude treats learning as a means to an end, the end being the grade, star, or recognition for being “smart.” Extrinsic motivation has been linked depression, narcissism, negative affect, and other negative physical symptoms (Dr. Ford).
Lack of Motivation in American High Schools
Motivation Problem in American High Schools
Motivation is a critical part of every individual’s life because it is what makes us do what we do. Without it, we wouldn’t get much done, let alone exist. But in order to be motivated, and therefore successful, in our lives, we have to develop the “skill,” or habit, perhaps, when we are young. What motivates us throughout our lives is directly a result of what we are motivated by in school.
However, the lack of motivation in schools, especially American high schools, is well known throughout academia (Dr. Ford). In 2003, it was measured that 40% of high school students were “chronically disengaged” from school (Crotty). Parents and teachers have been trying to figure out: “What motivates students to achieve in the world of academia?” (Dr. Ford).
Much of the education reform that has taken place has involved attempts to increase student achievement, but there hasn’t been enough focus on what it takes to motivate students (Crotty). It turns out that many of the attempts to solve the problem - raising standards and creating more exams - have actually worsened it, as they don’t address the real reasons why students are disengaged (Crotty).
Solution: How to Restore Motivation
Solutions
One key for restoring motivation in students is to make learning itself the end, rather than the means. The motivation that accompanies this perspective is classified as intrinsic: the “desire to learn a topic due to its inherent interest for self-fulfillment, enjoyment and achieve a mastery of the subject” (Dr. Ford). Carol Dweck would call this the “growth mindset.” She says praising students for the process they engage in, not for being smart, is what encourages the growth mindset and creates enthusiastic and responsible learners (Dweck). Once students believe that their intelligence can be developed, they will start seeing academic tasks as tools that will help them learn, rather than tedious chores that are a waste of time.
Other methods that have proven effective in increasing student motivation are to form positive, personal connections between student and teacher, treating failure as an opportunity to learn, giving students more choices, and relating lessons to real life (Dr. Shore). To increase motivation, “teachers and peers can foster a learning environment in that is responsive to adolescents’ developmental needs,” and ensures that those needs - high-quality friendship, peer acceptance, close relationship with non-familial adults, and dynamic, cognitive, social, personal, and emotional needs - are met (Kiefer). Similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, unless the adolescent’s basic needs are met with a responsive learning environment, a student will not move up to the level of motivation or engagement.
When teachers praise students for effort, they realize that failure is not bad. When provided with challenging assignments, students realize that failure actually helps them learn. Students are also much more motivated when the assignments they are given are interesting to them (Daikh), challenging, meaningful, and achievable. When teachers give students more choice in their topics of study and/or project, the students are more engaged. If students’ projects are chosen out of interest, are given relevance in the real world, or involves community service, they discover that their work is meaningful and can benefit other people or help to understand current community issues (Crotty).
If a student creates something that will be viewed by a public audience, rather than a single teacher, they will work harder to make it good, giving them a sense of responsibility. When kids feel that their teachers trust them to take responsibility and do work on their own, without being told to, they are more motivated to do the work (Kiefer). Dan Ariely refers to this as the “IKEA effect:” when people don’t put as much effort into a task, it isn’t as rewarding - the harder people work on something, the more they love doing it (Ariely). This results in self-determination, which “has been connected with a multiplicity of outcomes, such as greater cognitive flexibility, conceptual understanding, and active information processing at the same time as better academic performance and academic self-concept” (Dr. Ford). Students actually learn more when they are self-motivated to learn.
Motivation can be encouraged and discouraged (Crotty). In some ways, motivation is a skill. Some motivators are innate, but most of the motivation that drives us to work and learn is something we are taught - not directly, but through the school and home environments in which we grow up. Much of the frustration among both parents and teachers stems from the fact that high schoolers don’t like school, complain about work, and focus too much on grades and avoiding work and thus don’t learn. Students are often frustrated with school because they think of it as a waste of time and don’t enjoy it. Obviously, the entire situation is unpleasant for all that have to deal with it. Success in motivating students to want to learn and love learning is rewarding for students, teachers, and parents (Dr. Ford). Academically motivated students have been found to have higher achievement, better understanding of material, be more satisfied with school, and have lower dropout rates.
Motivation is the driving force that is responsible for everything humans accomplish. If motivation isn’t cultivated correctly in the earliest years and most impressionable years of a person’s life, there is little chance that the mindset or skills will stick throughout life. Especially in our modern world that is constantly changing and where education is so important, being motivated, being willing to learn, and having a growth mindset are extremely important.